When the history of the the Obama administration is written it will be a story of the deliberate atrophy of American influence abroad, the weaponization of law enforcement and administrative agencies to punish political opponents, and a calculated rejection of the Bill of Rights. One of the most outrageous acts was carried out by the “civil rights” office of the Department of Education. Responding to a demonstrably bogus claim of a “rape culture” on campus, DOE demanded that colleges and universities create Star Chambers to investigate students, primarily men, who were accused of some kind of sexual assault. Institutions that refused stood to lose federal money and eligibility for federally guaranteed student loans. That’s right, marginally educated social justice warriors were given a hunting license to pursue male students and harry them from campus on the flimsiest of evidence… or even no evidence at all. Just a few features of the system (read the full horror story) were: the defendant was not allowed to confront the accuser or to know the charges, double jeopardy did not apply, the defendant was not allowed counsel, the standard of evidence was basically “she said it so it is true.”

In a case that is in the news this week, Grant Neal, a football player at Colorado State University-Pueblo was suspended based on an allegation brought against him by a third party. Neal and his girlfriend had what they agree was a consensual sexual relationship but an unnamed third party reported it as sexual assault and Neal was suspended. The textbook case of how f***ed up, to use legal parlance, the situation is is that of Emma Sulkowicz who got college credit — I am not making this up — for carrying a mattress around campus because she accused a young man of raping her and could not even convince the SJW examiner, under the virtual nonexistent standard of proof, that he was guilty.

Increasing numbers of disciplined students are seeking redress in court and institutions are stuck between the rock of losing federal funding and the hard place of paying large settlements and reinstating abused students.

Since her confirmation, Betsy DeVos has been making sympathetic noises to rescinding or heavily modifying the odious “Dear Colleague” letter that set this atrocity in motion.

Last week, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos signaled that help — or at least due process — was on the way. After a series of meetings with accused students, accusers, and campus officials, she rightly noted that “a system without due process ultimately serves no one in the end.” And in a letter to Democratic senator Patty Murray, she also rightly faulted the Obama administration for descending “into a pattern of overreaching, of setting out to punish and embarrass institutions rather than work with them to correct civil rights violations and of ignoring public input prior to issuing new rules.”

More via ABC:

In addition to survivors’ groups and educational institutions, DeVos met with “men’s rights” organizations, including the National Coalition for Men (NCFM), as well as groups that speak out on behalf of the accused, including Families Advocating for Campus Equality (FACE) and Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE).

Though the secretary refused to say whether the administration wants to amend directives to colleges and universities, survivors’ advocates worry that DeVos’ engagement with these controversial groups — which opponents have dubbed insensitive to victims — signals a possible willingness to shift the process to the advantage of alleged perpetrators by rolling back Obama-era guidance directing schools to use a “preponderance of the evidence” standard of proof, rather than the higher “clear and convincing” standard, during Title IX sexual assault violence investigations.

Even that is insufficient, in my view. Educational institutions don’t have the ability to adequately investigate and prosecute sexual assaults. The obvious solution is to say a sexual assault on campus is treated exactly like a sexual assault in the mall. The police are called. The local district attorney is involved. It is still America even if it is a college or university.

Predictably, those making a career from the bogus “rape epidemic” are incensed:

“She’s meeting with groups and individuals today who believe that sexual assault is some sort of feminist plot to hurt men,” said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, who joined other like-minded individuals gathered outside the Department clamoring to keep the focus on survivors.

Natalie Green, online communications coordinator with women’s right group UltraViolet, tells ABC News, “In all honesty, we think she should be listening to the survivors first and foremost, not rape apologists.”

And a sure sign that DeVos is serious and something big is in the works happened yesterday:

20 attorneys general send letter to Betsy DeVos demanding she not roll back Title IX enforcement https://t.co/tZ3RdBeFJ6 pic.twitter.com/YC1LSGlif9

— Jezebel (@Jezebel) July 20, 2017